Content
50%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This skill provides a reasonable conceptual framework for research-before-coding but leans more toward a process description than actionable instructions. The decision matrix and examples are its strongest elements, providing clear guidance on when to adopt vs. build. However, it suffers from including reference material Claude already knows (common tool names), lacks validation checkpoints in the workflow, and the core 'how to actually search' guidance is vague rather than executable.
Suggestions
Replace the 'Search Shortcuts by Category' section with a reference to an external file or remove it entirely — Claude already knows these common tools
Add validation steps to the workflow: e.g., 'Check package health: last publish date, open issues, download count' and 'Test import/basic usage before committing to the dependency'
Make the 'Full Mode' agent invocation use actual tool syntax (e.g., specific MCP calls, actual CLI commands for npm search/pip search) rather than pseudo-syntax
Condense the ASCII workflow diagram into a numbered list to save tokens while preserving the same information
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The skill is moderately efficient but includes some content Claude already knows (e.g., listing common tools like eslint, prettier, pytest is reference material Claude has). The ASCII workflow diagram, while visually appealing, consumes significant tokens for information that could be conveyed more concisely. The 'Search Shortcuts by Category' section is essentially a lookup table Claude doesn't need. | 2 / 3 |
Actionability | The decision matrix and examples provide useful guidance, but the core workflow is more conceptual than executable. The 'Full Mode' agent invocation uses a pseudo-syntax (Task with subagent_type) that isn't clearly tied to a real tool or API. The 'Quick Mode' is essentially 'think about searching' rather than concrete commands. | 2 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The 5-step workflow is clearly sequenced and the decision matrix provides good branching logic. However, there are no validation checkpoints — no step to verify the chosen package actually works, no compatibility check, no 'if the package doesn't install correctly' recovery path. For a workflow that results in adding dependencies, validation is important. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The content is well-structured with clear sections and headers, but it's monolithic — everything is in one file with no references to external files for the detailed category shortcuts or integration patterns. The integration points section and search shortcuts could be split out to keep the main skill lean. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 8 / 12 Passed |